


Rituals

by sociologize



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Boys Kissing, Gen, Indulgent nonsense, M/M, i don't know what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 05:26:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16717323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sociologize/pseuds/sociologize
Summary: Before War Games, Adam Cole goes through his pre-match rituals.





	Rituals

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alilyinhighgarden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alilyinhighgarden/gifts).



> A short little thing written for my favorite bad influence.

Before stepping through the curtains, wrestlers have all kinds of pre-match rituals, most of which get caught on camera whenever the crews are wandering around; warm-ups and exercises, prayers whispered knelt in a corner, tag teams hyping each other up as quietly or as loudly as they need to, or even just someone standing silently by the curtain, listening to and feeling the crowd's roars of excitement and soaking it all in.  But then there's the pre-match rituals the cameras miss, the moments that are a little more personal, the moments that are even _more_ than that.  A pre-match ritual to the pre-match ritual, in some cases.

For Adam, it may not play out the same every time, but it follows the same pattern, more or less; he seeks out Roddy first, who on a normal night is with his wife and kid.  Tonight's a little different; Marina hadn't had a match, but she'd been out there all the same, helping Shayna in her match and when Adam happens upon the couple there's an energy there that's hard not to get caught up in.  It's electric, exciting, and he can't help but grin as he slaps Roddy on the shoulder and compliments Marina on a job well done. He doesn't ask if Roddy's ready and he won't, because he knows Roddy will ask him the same thing later on, because that's part of Roddy's own ritual.  So he asks about Marina instead, about what happened down at the ring, asks about the kid and spends a few minutes talking to both of them before he squeezes Roddy's shoulder again and moves on with a _see you in a bit_.  

He seeks out Kyle next, and sometimes Adam finds him right away or it takes him searching almost the entirety of the backstage area until he does.  This time it only a couple of minutes, Kyle having chosen a spot to pace down a hallway and around the corner. It isn't nervous energy by any means, because Kyle really doesn't do nervous.  It's anticipation and excitement, and Kyle paces to burn it off, so that when the time comes to step through the curtain he's as calm as he can be.

Adam doesn't interrupt Kyle's ritual, or slide into it like he does with Roddy's; he's known Kyle long enough that they know each other's rituals by now, and Kyle's been apart of this one more than once in his career.  And Adam knows that Kyle doesn't need or want the the company at the moment - that comes later, when he finally joins them near the curtain, goes through his warm-ups and finally settles, ready to go. So all Adam does his ruffle his hair as he passes, Kyle huffing and ducking with it, acknowledging the _I'm making the rounds_ that goes unsaid between them.

"Bobby's down that way."  This isn't usually part of the ritual, Kyle breaking his silence to point out where his partner is, but Adam pauses and turns to look at him, and Kyle nods down one of the hallways.  It might not be part of it but Adam won't complain, if it means making it all last a little longer - especially this part. He gives Kyle a wave and heads down the hallway, footsteps starting to echo as he gets further away from the busier parts of the backstage.

He always leaves Bobby for last.  It doesn't matter if Bobby's on the card or not, if he's injured or he's wrestling with them, or if he comes across Kyle first instead of Roddy, Bobby is always the last one he seeks out.  In some ways, it's the most important part of Adam's ritual.

Bobby doesn't really have a ritual that extends beyond warming up before their matches.  Or maybe he does, if sitting somewhere quietly by himself counted as a ritual. And maybe it does, to Bobby.  Adam's never bothered asking and he doesn't plan to, because Adam would still seek him out regardless. Always has, as long as they were fighting on the same side.  Just like with Kyle, Bobby was just as familiar with Adam's habits before a match. Just, with Bobby it was a little different.

Somehow, Bobby always manages to find the one area backstage that's the emptiest.  Maybe not the _quietest_ , because Adam can still hear the crowd, can still hear bodies slamming into the mat and voices echoing down from other hallways and rooms, but there's no one else in this area.  Bobby's sat on a box of equipment, hands folded in his lap, the very picture of calm. If he's actually calm or not - again, Adam's never bothered to ask. There's a lot Adam knows about Bobby, but asking things like that seems like stepping over a line, in moments like this.  Were this not before a match, maybe, but now, when they were minutes away? No way.

"There he is."  Bobby smiles as Adam approaches, says it like he was expecting him his whole time - and he probably was, because Bobby knew this ritual, after all.  Adam was considering the spot next to him to sit, but instead he finds a hand in his shirt, pulling him to stand between Bobby's legs instead. Adam finds himself stumbling a step at the unexpected move, bracing his hands on Bobby's thighs, but it's not an unwelcome change of plans - far from it, really.  It puts him closer, and he raises his eyebrows and barely manages to suppress a grin at the look Bobby gives him.

"Here I am."  He says instead of the million things that come to mind first, the slightest bit of playful sarcasm edging into his voice.

This part of the ritual is always different, depending on their moods.  On some nights, they just sit together and don't say a word. Sometimes they talk about their opponents, plans and strategies one of them came up with at the last minute.  Sometimes . . . sometimes it's more, and the relative privacy of wherever Bobby's found isn't _enough_ because Adam is only a man, okay, and sometimes they don't get enough private moments, and sometimes backstage is the perfect time to take advantage of a little privacy.  Or sometimes, it's just enough to kiss Bobby until they're both breathless and laughing about it, because yeah, there's not that much privacy when you're on the road with two other guys and practically living on top of each other, and moments like that were few and far between.

Tonight's different, too.  Adam's hand slides down, over the cool metal of the knee brace to rest over Bobby's knee, already heavily taped up with a quiet, curious noise.  "You sure you're up for this?"

Adam doesn't worry, not in that way.  He has the utmost faith in his guys, because they're _his_ guys.  Every word he preaches to the crowd, about how they're the best, how they run NXT, is nothing but the truth because he believes every word of it, deep in his bones.  There are no doubts, there is no _room_ for doubt.

But there's room for this, this not-quite worry, that he doesn't acknowledge as worry and calls it something else that he never puts a word to.  For all that he knows that the four of them will go out there and kill it, win or lose, if Bobby were to tell him he didn't feel ready yet, that his knee wasn't ready, Adam would nod and tell him he was fine with it.  This was Bobby's first _real_ match back, and it was the most brutal match NXT had to offer, of all the fucking matches they could end up in.  Even though Bobby had made his return with this - this _viciousness_ that Adam had found exhilarating, fucking _beautiful_ , even if he wanted to see it all on full display in the match, watch Bobby tear Ricochet and Dunne ad the War Raiders apart along with him and Kyle and Roddy - if Bobby didn't feel like he _could_ , well, Adam wasn't going to fucking make him.  

Yeah, he could be cold-hearted, but he wasn't _that_ cold-hearted.  Not when it came to the people he really gave a damn about.

Adam feels Bobby's knee flex carefully underneath his hand, then Bobby's own hand slide over his.  "I'm good to go." Was the simple answer, along with a careful shrug. And for all that it was simple, given right away with barely a second of consideration, Adam knew he could trust it.  Bobby didn't fuck around with injuries, especially not serious ones. Especially not with serious matches looming mere minutes away.

"Good."  Adam grins and leans in, giving into the one urge he can never resist during this ritual, no matter how it went.  It would explain why things went in certain direction sometimes, but - he could never walk away without kissing Bobby, at least once.  "Because I need you out there tonight." He adds in a mutter against Bobby's lips, muffled and barely audible, but Bobby chuckles all the same and pulls him closer with a hand in his hair.

"It's our match."  Bobby mutters back, and this time Adam's the one laughing, going with the pull and leaning fully against him.  It's a relief in a way; he had no doubt that he, Roddy and Kyle could go out there and do it themselves if he had to, but it wouldn't be the same.  War Games was, as Bobby said, _their_ match.  It was the Undisputed Era's match, and there was no UE without Bobby.

Adam feels the hand in his hair shift back, pulling it free from the messy bun he'd kept it in since arriving at the arena.  He huffs against Bobby's lips, because he knows he's going to be down another hair tie, because Bobby just _tossed_ them, the jerk - but still, that was fine.  Especially when Bobby's hand returns and the second kiss more than makes up for it - hell, what hair tie, he could care less about the damn hair tie.

They're given a few more minutes of blessed privacy before they both hear the crowd growing louder, the way they always did towards the end of a match.  The two in the ring ready to throw whatever they have left at each other, their hardest hitting, last-ditch effort moves to come out on top, and the arena practically shakes with the crowd's cheers and boos, with every slam against the mat, that Adam can feel it in his bones.

It means that Adam's ritual was coming to an end.  This ritual, the personal one that cameras weren't allowed to see.

With one last kiss Adam reluctantly draws away, taking a step back and tilting his head from side to side - both physically and mentally slipping into a different mindset.  Bobby slid off the box to stand with him and all at once the atmosphere between them changes. Personal to business, as easily as any of their other habits. As if the moment they'd just had was being set aside, because what was coming, to both of them, was just a touch more important.

They could both hear steps coming down the hallway - probably Kyle, coming to get the two of them.  Roddy would be close behind, calling their names as he walked despite knowing Kyle was already looking for them, despite how this was how it always went.  And maybe that was part of their own rituals, too. Adam never pointed it out.

In a few minutes the four of them would meet up and make their way to the curtain area, do their first (or last) set of warm-ups, the pre-match rituals the cameras were allowed to see.  Maybe even say a few things for the cameras, too, because the PC had a youtube channel now and the cameras had been following them around all week, but -

Adam's pre-match ritual was important, and not for the cameras, and he made sure they didn't catch any of it.  Because the Undisputed Era was _more_ than just a faction and _more_ than just a group of guys working together, and he couldn't go out there without making sure his guys were ready to go, too.  Even if it was finding that out in his own way.


End file.
